Blueprint for Germany: High-performance charging of electric buses with flywheel buffer storage in Bensheim in regular operation

November 15, 2023 | The next milestone for the “Buffered-HLL” pilot project, buffered high-power charging for electric public transport buses, has been reached at Bensheim railway station in Hesse: Following the completion of construction and initial successful tests, the storage and charging system for electric public transport buses will now be officially put into operation at Bensheim bus station on 15 November in the presence of Nicole Rauber-Jung, First City Councillor of the City of Bensheim. In regular operation, electric buses for regional public transport will then be temporarily charged for the first time in Germany at a high-power charger with a flywheel buffer storage unit.

Official commissioning on 15 November 2023: Next milestone reached for the “Buffered-HLL” pilot project, temporarily stored high-performance charging for buses, at Bensheim railway station in Hesse
Nicole Rauber-Jung, First Councillor of the City of Bensheim, takes part in the commissioning ceremony
Project in the Bensheim region is a blueprint for regional bus transport in Germany
E-buses in urban transport can recharge the energy for an entire tour in just 150 seconds. This significantly extends the range of the battery charge throughout the day, with efficiency gains in terms of time and costs
Strong consortium of SMEs and researchers: Adaptive Balancing Power (ABP), Isabellenhütte Heusler (IH), Verkehrsgesellschaft Gersprenztal (VGG), CuroCon, Reiner Lemoine Institut (RLI)

A key technology for ultra-fast charging comes from Adaptive Balancing Power (ABP), one of the leading technology companies for buffered storage and charging solutions based in Pfungstadt. The special feature: Thanks to the new charging technology, e-buses can be charged faster, more flexibly and more in line with demand. The system for buses consists of a sustainable buffer storage system, which stores and releases energy in a flywheel, and a pantograph. Adaptive Balancing Power also offers corresponding charging solutions for cars.

Dr Hendrik Schaede-Bodenschatz, Managing Director of Adaptive Balancing Power GmbH: “The mobility of the future must be climate-neutral, reliable, affordable and suitable for everyday use. That’s exactly what we develop and produce the right charging and storage technologies for.”

150 seconds of charging for a complete tour.

The vehicle used is a VDL Citea LLE 99 electric from VDL. The bus is currently primarily used on the city bus routes in Bensheim (671, 672, 673). The vehicle passes Bensheim railway station around every 30 minutes. A loading stop of around 150 seconds when boarding and alighting is sufficient for a complete tour. Once the project has been successfully completed in the course of the coming year, the infrastructure model will also be transferred to other regions.

Karl Reinhard Wissmüller, Managing Director of Verkehrsgesellschaft Gersprenztal mbH: “Medium-sized bus companies are the backbone of public transport outside of urban centres. Converting the fleet from diesel to e-mobility or hydrogen is a challenge. This makes it all the more important that we test and establish practicable transport solutions with a view to vehicle costs and ranges.”

Solution for the mobility transition in urban and rural areas

The electrification of public transport is an important pillar of the mobility transition and for reducing CO2 in the transport sector. In urban areas, public transport is often provided by medium-sized commercial bus companies. They particularly benefit from the new charging solution. Thanks to the new Adaptive Balancing Power system, buses can be deployed much more flexibly. Standstill and charging times of just a few minutes are sufficient to successfully recharge the bus for the next route. This eliminates the need for large bus batteries. This makes the purchase and operation of the buses
buses more profitable.

Fast-charging station with flywheel storage saves planning effort and costs

For the project, scientists from the Reiner Lemoine Institute (RLI) analysed the complete conversion of the operation of around 100 VGG buses to battery electric drives. From an operational point of view, a switch to suitable electric vehicles with depot charging is desirable. However, as simulations show, this is not possible with the current bus technology for around 30 per cent of the rotations – routes that a bus covers in total every day. VGG would therefore have to set up charging infrastructure for intermediate charging at 21 terminal stops. “Intermediate charging is possible for up to 16 of these stops at a fast-charging station with a flywheel buffer storage unit. Only a low-voltage connection is then required there instead of a medium-voltage connection. This means that no transformer needs to be installed, the system is more space-saving and planning is simplified. In this case, the investment costs are reduced by almost 2 million euros,” says RLI project manager Julian Brendel from the Mobility with Renewable Energies division.

Pioneering measurement technology and power electronics made in Germany

The two companies Isabellenhütte Hausler and CuroCon are contributing pioneering measurement technology and one of the most advanced power electronics solutions to the project.

Dr Jan Marien, Head of Research and Development at Isabellenhütte Heusler GmbH & Co. KG: “The development of state-of-the-art measurement technology is what makes the switch to e-mobility possible in the first place. We are the invisible enablers of safety, transparency and accountability for the transport transition.”

Michael Wißbach, Managing Director of CuroCon GmbH: “We are very experienced in the areas of charging infrastructure and high-tech automation of industrial plants and are successfully positioned in the market. Above all, projects such as the BHLL project offer us an excellent opportunity to work on the development and implementation of new mobility concepts in the field of e-mobility together with the other consortium partners.”

Further information:

About Adaptive Balancing Power: Adaptive Balancing Power GmbH is a leading GreenTech company from Germany that develops and manufactures sustainable high-performance storage solutions for the rapid and nationwide expansion of the charging infrastructure, for balancing grid fluctuations and for the efficient use of renewable energies. With its easy-to-integrate high-performance storage and charging solutions, Adaptive enables ultra-fast charging for electric cars, buses and lorries in a matter of minutes rather than hours. With an output of up to 300 kW, the scalable buffer storage units can also be installed at locations that are not connected to power lines designed for fast charging processes. The company is therefore operating in a rapidly growing market and is meeting the urgent demand for fast-charging points largely independently of the lengthy expansion of the power grid. Adaptive Balancing Power GmbH was founded in Darmstadt in 2016.

Further information: https://www.adaptive-balancing.de/

About the BHLL consortium: Together with Adaptive Balancing Power, four other consortium partners are realising the project. The consortium leader is Isabellenhütte Heusler from Dillenburg (Hesse), a leading manufacturer of measurement technology products.With a new generation of direct current meters, the metering specialist enables energy quantities to be recorded in compliance with calibration law as well as cloud-based provision of all collected data, which ensures intelligent and secure billing.The bus service is operated by Verkehrsgesellschaft Gersprenztal mbH (VGG), which is based in Reichelsheim (Odw.) and Bensheim.VGG is a medium-sized company with around 180 employees and 90 buses operating an extensive route network in the Bergstrasse, Odenwald and Darmstadt-Dieburg districts.CuroCon GmbH from Zwingenberg realises the entire power electronics as well as the communication between the charging infrastructure and the bus. The engineering service provider has extensive experience in the field of charging infrastructure and in the high-tech automation of industrial systems and applications in the stationary, mobile and energy sectors.The Berlin-based independent Reiner Lemoine Institute is providing scientific support for the project and has already conducted studies on the electrification of buses in Berlin. The team is dedicated to application-oriented research for the energy and transport transition in Germany.

Press contacts

Reiner Lemoine Institut gGmbH
Timo Beyer
+49 (0) 30 12084 3415
presse@rl-institut.de

Adaptive Balancing Power GmbH
Kirsten Jahn
+49 (0) 176 1257 4426
kirsten.jahn@adaptive‐balancing.de